


just one heartbeat

by lost_in_a_nebula



Category: Doctor Who, Doctor Who & Related Fandoms, Doctor Who (2005)
Genre: 11 Doctors, all the Doctors - Freeform, paradoxes everywhere
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-04-26
Updated: 2013-04-26
Packaged: 2017-12-09 14:18:32
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,231
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/775171
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/lost_in_a_nebula/pseuds/lost_in_a_nebula
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>It was such a simple day to save the world, and she didn't realise she was the most important human in the universe.</p>
            </blockquote>





	just one heartbeat

She liked taking long walks; across the park, through town, to music, with friends, alone – being outdoors made her happy. This walk, she was going into town for a coffee with her old school friend while her daughter was at a sewing class.

But she heard a strange whooshing noise down a side street to her left and stepped back to identify the source – she saw a blue box, a couple of metres tall with ‘Police Publish Call Box’ written on the door. It wasn’t there when she’d glanced down a moment previously.

A man popped his head out the door, his tweed jacket collar turned up at the back and his hair ruffled in all directions; she didn’t believe that gravity could allow it to do that.

“Ah! Human!” He called, running towards her excitedly. “Hello, you’ll do just perfectly.”

He grabbed her hand and pulled her into the box. She didn’t think to question it – who was to deny an adventure when it poked its head out of a box and pulled her inside?

“Okay, an innocent rather sexy looking human with great legs and a rather spectacular pair of heels – you’ll be perfect! This shall be fun.” The man babbled excitedly, shutting the door to the Police Box closed and running towards the control panel.

She could see a grand total of 11 men, all of varying degrees of age and in various states of attire, the first man in the tweed running round the panel while the others milled around.

Another man approached her, still paused at the door. He had a long trench coat and a pair of bright red sneakers saunters over to her with a broad smile and more gravity defying hair.

“Hello, I’m the Doctor-”

“No you’re not, I am!” The man in the tweed jacket and a selection of the other men interrupted. The Trench Coat Doctor rolled his eyes.

“What’s your name?”

“Heather.” She muttered, looking around the impressive Police Box – she didn’t know the government had this kind of technological funding.

“It’s lovely to meet you Heather.”

“It’s bigger on the inside.” She breathed, remembering the small side-street the box was located and that it wasn’t quite as large as this box.

“Ah, it’s still as exciting when they say it!” The Trench Coat Doctor beamed, turning back to the others.

“I don’t suppose you could explain to the human what’s going on?” Heather asked, leaning absentmindedly on the railings.

“Yes!” The Tweed Jacket Doctor ran back towards her. “I’m a Time-Lord; an alien. I’m 1200 years old and I have a way of cheating death by regenerating into a new man – I am the 11th reincarnation of myself and all these men are my previous faces. It would all be quite exciting if it weren’t for the paradoxes and time fluxes and all the clashing shoes!”

“Surely if there’s so many of us, we have thousands of years of knowledge between us? We needn’t disturb the day of this lovely lady.” A Leather Jacket Doctor smiled, his gravity defying ears flapping just a little bit.

“No Nine! I have all the knowledge you have; I am cleverer than you! I am One, plus the knowledge of Two, plus the knowledge of Three and so on! Come on, that’s basic timey wimey confusion.” The Tweed Jacket Doctor strode back over and prodded the space in front of the Leather Jacket Doctor’s chest, without touching him. “Now don’t let anyone touch each other or they paradox’s will get in here and it’s bad enough that we had to put all the companions in the library without their swimming costumes!”

“So what do I have to do?” Heather asked, leaning on the Trench Coat Doctor’s shoulder and batting her eye lashes – the Tweed Jacket Doctor had said nothing about _hear_ touching any of the Doctor’s.

“To reverse all of this hullabaloo we need to echo the heartbeat of a human down the time stream.” The Tweed Jacket Doctor explained, taking her hand once more – careful to miss the swish of the trench coat – and standing Heather in front of the control panel, sticking wires to her head, her collar bones and her wrists.

“I think that one should be nearer the subclavian artery-”

“Shush, Five! I know what I’m doing.” The Tweed Jacket Man turned to the fifth incarnation of himself who shrugged and stood back to talk to a man with an outrageously long scarf. But he did move the wire a little lower.

He took Heather’s hand once more, the wires pulling and extending from the console as he stood her in front of the door.

“Are you ready?” He asked, almost excitedly, putting one hand on the doors.

“I’m not sure what for. But go on.” She agreed, putting her hand on the other door and together they pushed them open.

“Go on Ten! Fly us into the Time Stream!” The Tweed Jacket Doctor shouted over their shoulders. The Trench Coat Doctor ran back to the console and held on tight while the box began to shake and whir.

Heather watched as the space around them became what seemed like a strange sort of tube, filled with red and blue and black and clouds and lightning. It was oddly beautiful and mystifying until the Tweed Jacket Doctor shouted “Now!” and the Trench Jacket Doctor flicked a switch and Heather’s heart beat began playing out to the time stream.

The first few beats seemed to silence the whirring of the box, taking Heather’s breath away. But what made it truly phenomenal was when the beat started echoing back and it sounded like she had two or maybe even three hearts.

“Ha, ha! We did it!” Eleven cheered, turning to watch the other Doctor’s beginning to disappear. Once the Trench Coat Doctor had disappeared with a wink, the Tweed Jacket Doctor closed the doors and went back to the console to switch off the heart beat played and take the box away from the time stream.

Heather followed him, ripping off all the wires and holding on when the box began to shake again. The Tweed Jacket Doctor ran back over to the door, opening it back on the street where he’d picked her up.

“There you go; back where I found you, about 5 seconds before I picked you up.” He smiled.

“Before?” Heather questioned, joining him at the door and watching a similar – potentially the same box – disappear in front of her.

“It travels in time. It’s very impressive. Anyway, off you go. Nice to meet you!” The Tweed Jacket Doctor smiled and pushed gently on Heather’s back, making her stumble into the street.

“Wait, wait!”

“Yes?”

“Who are you?”

“The Doctor!”

“Doctor Who?”

“I love it when they say that. Just the Doctor. It’s very unusual – never met anyone called it yet!”

“Sounds convenient, there’s a few Heather’s.”

“I think you’re a wonderful Heather. Any other questions? I really need to get going – I have a lot of things to be doing. Better go find Clara – I think she was in the 37th century erotic Western fiction when I last left her. I wouldn’t have thought that was her style, but there you go!”

“Yes, there is one more thing.” Heather paused. “Do you really think my heels are spectacular?”

“I never lie about spectacular shoes.”

**Author's Note:**

> Written for Heather's 50th Birthday because I'm too cheap to buy a present. Hope you enjoyed it :D xx


End file.
